


Works in Progress

by 23Murasaki



Series: Everyone Lives! [18]
Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Agni is a nice person, Everything Happens in the Kitchen, Gen, Just Add Kittens, demoning is difficult
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-18
Updated: 2014-02-18
Packaged: 2018-01-12 02:33:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1180887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/23Murasaki/pseuds/23Murasaki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not all the secrets Sebastian keeps from the rest of the household are of the dark and evil sort. Some live in a box with a hot water bottle and haven't opened their eyes yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Works in Progress

It may have been marginally unbecoming a demon to have a box of two-week-old kittens in the kitchen, but it was cold outside and their mother was gone and he was making very sure to not trigger his young master’s allergies. He was also doing a good job of keeping them hidden– people were in and out of the kitchen all the time, but at no point had the box or its precious contents been investigated. Now that it was dark, it was safe for them to roam around a little. As soon as he moved the box, he heard a chorus of plaintive squeaks.  
  
“Goodness, little ones,” he murmured. “Are you that eager for attention?” Fully grown cats were luxurious, elegant creatures, the sort that had been worshipped as gods in places around the world. At two weeks old, however, they resembled nothing more than frightened, blind, furry sausages with legs. The transformation really was impressive.  
  
The four little kittens stumbled towards his bare hand when he reached into their box to retrieve the bottle of no-longer hot water from beneath the blankets. The nearest one managed to run into him and topple over with an unhappy noise. The demon laughed quietly and swept all four of them onto his lap.  
  
“I know it is cold here, I know,” he said as gently as he could. It was always either too cold or too hot in the kitchen, no matter how much he fiddled with the stove. “Now, I brought you something lovely to eat again.”  
  
He had managed to smuggle the bottles and the formula into the kitchen as well. That really was more luck than skill on his part, at least with the bottles, because Bard had decided they were for alcohol and not cat-rearing and had cheerily promised, without prompting, to keep his secret. He was glad for that, though; the kittens seemed always hungry. He understood that state of being quite well. The one he was presently feeding peered at him with bleary blue eyes.  
  
“Ah?” Its eyes had opened already? “Hello, my sweet one. Can you see me? I wonder if you all will, soon...” They were much too young to answer back, in any case. “Well, you know me anyway. Soon you’ll know my face as well as my voice...”  
  
He ran his fingers gently over the kitten’s back. There were so fragile, still, all soft edges and brittle bones, with their teeth barely beginning to grow in. Young things were always so fragile. He wondered whether the sight of something that was not yet fully formed was supposed to be endearing. It seemed nonsensical, but perhaps it was working on him as well. He was tending to them, after all.  
  
“... Well, I will protect you until you are strong, little ones.” The kittens curled contentedly against him in response, purring softly. One pressed its tiny nose against the contract mark on the back of his hand. They trusted him wholeheartedly, didn’t they? He supposed they did not know any better. That was the the only possible excuse for such actions. Still, he decided he would stay there a while. The little ones needed some form of contact, and he never got to sit with them during the day. Just a little while, then, and he would get back to work...  
  
\------  
  
He woke up to morning sunlight, the smell of scones baking, the weight of a warm blanket on his shoulders, and one kitten fewer on his lap than had been there the night before. That last part was what jerked him awake almost violently. As soon as he opened his eyes, though, he found the fourth kitten.  
  
“Are you awake now, my friend?” asked Agni in a very Agni manner, cradling the kitten gently in one hand as he bottle-fed it. “I did not wish to wake you, but the little ones were crying.”  
  
“Oh,” said the demon intelligently, trying to organize his thoughts beyond the vaguely idyllic image in front of him. It was more difficult than he had expected.  
  
“This little one is quite the huntress,” Agni said, smiling warmly at the kitten he was holding. “Perhaps in a past life, she was a brave tiger.”  
  
“Perhaps.” As unwilling as the demon was to think a lot about past lives, it was a nice thought. “Do you think she was a man-eater?” Agni laughed gently.  
  
“Perhaps so, my friend. We cannot know.” He set the bottle down and stroked the kitten’s back. It squeaked happily and leaned into the gesture as best it could. “She is not one now, though, and it will be this life that matters to her.”  
  
“Right,” said the demon. He was still a bit asleep, but it sounded like Agni was trying to make a moral out of it and he wasn’t sure he understood how or why. “Well, thank you for your help.”  
  
“Of course!” said Agni cheerily, depositing the kitten back on the demon’s lap. “I am always glad to assist you, my friend. Although...” He looked concerned. “You should not sleep sitting upright on the floor. It is not good for your health.”  
  
“I will keep it in mind,” he muttered. The kittens made upset noises when he moved them back to their box. “Oh dear... Please don’t be so upset, I will return to you soon!” They fell silent again after a moment, cuddling up against one another. He heard Agni laugh softly again, and glared over his shoulder. “What?”  
  
“Ah! No, no, I am not laughing at you!” Agni assured him, waving his hands quickly. “It is just... you are so gentle with them. It makes me think you could be a good father one day.”  
  
“I doubt that,” said the demon flatly. He could not picture himself being a father, let alone being a good father. Without thinking about it, he pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders. It was deep green and embroidered, and smelled nice in an unfamiliar sort of way. “... But thank you for the compliment, regardless.”  
  
“Maybe in another life, then,” said Agni with a smile and a shrug. For a split second, the demon pictured another life overrun with cats and gardens and sweet-smelling spices, but when he tried to pin the image down and examine it, it vanished. Instead he smiled and hoped it did not look forced.  
“Maybe in my next life, yes.” He still was not entirely sure how the blanket, the box of kittens, all the bottles and formula, and Agni all wound up in his room that evening, but he certainly was not about to question it. He had absolutely given up on questioning Agni-related things.


End file.
